Canon City News

A request for a Special Review Use permit by Wellsville Recreational Facility unanimously was approved during Tuesday's Board of Fremont County Commissioners meeting.

The Fremont County Planning Commission approved the SRU request by a 6-1 vote Feb. 4. During a public hearing Tuesday, three individuals from the Swissvale area spoke against the request, two people spoke in favor and one was neutral.

The SRU, requested by Daniel Cook, executive director and founder of Rivers of Recovery, and Lynda and Alfred Ira Grayzel, is for a recreational facility, which will include an outdoor-based retreat that offers recreational rehabilitation programs to disabled and severely injured combat veterans. The SRU permit is issued is for the life of the use.

The 13.26-acre property is located almost seven miles east of Salida and 55 miles west of Cañon City. Cook said use of the facility will be restricted to RoR only, will not be open to other outside groups as initially proposed.

More than 95 percent of the participants who will use the Swissvale facility are from the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Carson.

Cook said the majority of Swissvale residents support the project, but some have expressed concern about program participants who are "disturbed" and may pose a threat of bodily injury to nearby residents as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder.

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"A study done by the VA in 2013 reveals that veterans are less than half as likely as the general population to commit a crime," he said. "A new case study in 2009 found no link between crime and the armed forces."

He said RoR has had no issue with insubordination or violence since its inception in 2008, and staff members live and sleep within 20 to 50 feet of the participants.

Swissvale resident Yvonne Nelson said she has dealt with nothing but "lies" from both Cook and the Fremont County Planning and Zoning Department.

"Until my dying day if you approve this, I will be very diligent in following up with cameras and watching them," she said. "I will (devote) the rest of my days doing that; I don't want them exploiting my veterans and that's what they are doing for their own benefit."

Commissioner Ed Norden said nobody, including himself, has ever intentionally lied to her.

"I am sorry if you misunderstand the difference between a special review use permit and a building permit," he said. "Therein lies your confusion; the kind of conditions and contingencies that we are talking about have nothing to do with his building permit on a single-family dwelling. End of story."

Joyce Padilla, also of Swissvale, asked the commissioners to deny the request.

"I consider this campground a nuisance and it imposes on my personal space," she said.

Cook addressed invasion of privacy concerns.

"It is my opinion that the neighbors who are opposing this are not concerned so much about what goes on up there, but that there is something over there; one, it's a structure and two, that we're helping people," he said.

He said he feels the opponents of the project have shown no respect for moral, ethical or reasonable boundaries through their attacks on RoR, Fremont County officials and the SRU application process.

"They are accusing the local media of engaging in deceptive reporting and misinformation and they are accusing the building department of incompetence and participating in a conspiracy," he said.

Janet Johnson, whose property is adjacent to Cook's facility, said she has photos of active campfires on the RoR property during last summer's fire ban, but Cook said that is not true. Norden recommended Cook check the fire ban status daily for any changes. Cook said his fire pit can be observed from U.S. 50 and if there was a violation, it would be visible. Johnson said no reports have been made to law enforcement authorities.

Johnson asked for a delay in SRU approval so the commissioners could further study the request, visit the site and see it firsthand before they rule. She said the program may in fact be necessary for veterans, but Swissvale is not the place.

"I resent the fact that he came in the back door," she said. "Using a back door approach, he ran 170 vets through illegally last year."

Cook said in February that he began operating RoR in 2013 prior to the SRU application process because he felt the need to begin was urgent. He was given a "Compliance Advisory" in September 2013 by the Department of Planning and Zoning Code Enforcement Officers. Cook said that once he received the notice, he finished out the four trips that already were scheduled.

As a consequence, the board agreed that in addition to the $1,800 application fee, Cook pay a $900 fee that will be earmarked for the Veterans Memorial Park at the Fremont County Airport.

The SRU was approved with the conditions that all gates must remain closed when cattle is present, that the application be amended that the facility be used by veterans only and that compliance by Cook with Colorado Division of Water Resources be required.

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